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Policies & Procedures - 5.5 Journals Board

- approved 12/98, , updated 7/08, updated 03/10 -

Purpose

The Journals Board is responsible for establishing policies and setting strategic directions for the archival journals published by the IEEE Communications Society, within the context of providing services to Society members.  To the extent that non-member professionals can be viewed as potential Society members, or that their needs should be understood in maintaining current and formulating new society services, they, too, will be considered.  The journals include the Transactions on Communications, the Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, Communications Letters, e-Journal on Communications Surveys and Tutorials, and the electronic-only Transactions on Network and Service Management.  

In addition, the Board has three seats on the nine-member Inter-Society Steering Committee for the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and, through its membership on this steering committee, has a degree of responsibility for the successful operation of the Transactions on Networking.  The Journals Board also maintains close liaison with the Journal of Lightwave Technology through a ComSoc Editor.  The Journals Board has two seats on the Steering Committee of the Transactions on Multimedia, three seats on the Steering Committee of the Transaction on Wireless Communications, and two seats on the Steering Committee of the Transactions on Mobile Computing. Each joint publication has an Agreement and Charter defining the provisions of the journal and the responsibilities of the Steering Committee.

 

Organizational Structure

The Journals Board consists of the following members:

  • Director of Journals (Chair)
  • Editor-in-Chief of Transactions on Communications
  • Editor in Chief of Journal on Selected Areas on Communications
  • Editor in Chief of Journal of Optical Communications and Networking
  • Editor-in-Chief of Transactions on Wireless Communications
  • Editor-in-Chief of Transactions on Network and Service Management
  • Editor-in-Chief of Communications Letters
  • Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking
  • Editor-in-Chief of IEEE e-Journal on Communications  Surveys and Tutorial
  • ComSoc Editor of Journal of Lightwave Technology
  • Two members at large
  • Additional members can be appointed, including Liaison Editors to other IEEE journals.

The Director of Journals is appointed by the President of the Communications Society, upon recommendation by the Vice President of Publications.  With the exception of the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, all other members of the Journals Board are appointed by the Director of Journals.  The Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking is selected by the Inter-Society Steering Committee. Candidates for membership on the Journals Board, and therefore the EICs of the respective journals, are normally selected from the pool of the most active editors of the journals.

The two members-at-large of the Board are appointed to their position by the Chair, drawing upon a field of candidates from the membership at large, with special attention given to individuals who have previously served in related capacities.  Members of the Journals Board shall serve a nominal two-year term, renewable for 1 or 2 additional years, based on mutual agreement of the Director of Journals and the Vice President for Publications.  In the event that a position on the Journals Board is vacated before the full two-year or three-year term is completed, the Director of Journals shall appoint a successor to complete the partial term and to serve an additional traditional (two-year or three-year) term.  A term on the Journals Board concludes either by natural expiration, or by an invitation to resign issued by the Director of Journals.

ComSoc Editors-in-Chief (EICs) shall be appointed by the Director of Journals to an initial term of 2 years, renewable for 1 or 2 additional years.  The maximum term of an EIC shall be 4 years.  An Associate Editor-in-Chief (AEIC) can be appointed, as appropriate, for a ComSoc journal to serve a 1 or 2 year term with the expectation that the AEIC would succeed the current EIC.

 

Activities

The Journals Board is responsible for the management of the archival journals published by the Communications Society. Duties of the Journals Board include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Formulating strategic directions for the suite of archival Journals published by the IEEE Communications Society and to insure that the technical scope of the Communications Society is reflected by the suite of publications.

  • Insuring the quality of all publications for which the Board is responsible.

  • Working with the IEEE staff to solve publications problems as they occur and to insure that all publications are produced in a timely manner and are consistent with IEEE publications requirements.

  • Formulating page budgets for each publication and recommending changes where appropriate.

  • Tracking the month-to-month use of the page budgets to insure that significant deviations in the page budget (an under-run exceeding 5% or any over-run) are minimized to the extent possible. Since page budget deviations affect the overall budget of the Communications Society, the Director of Journals is responsible for reporting these deviations to the Vice President of Publications and to the Executive Director of the Communications Society as soon as they are projected.

  • Working with the Inter-Society Steering Committee to fulfill the responsibility of the Communications Society to the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking.

  • Maintaining and updating the IOPP (Integrated Online Publications Plan) and distributing the revised IOPP when any revisions are made.

  • Continuously studying the suite of Journals offered by the Communications Society and recommending changes as appropriate. Recommendations should be made to the Vice President of Publications and, as examples, could include the addition of new Journals or changes in the publication schedule.

  • Work with the Director of Magazines to insure that meeting facilities are available at regularly scheduled meetings of the Board of Journals and the Board of Magazines. Meetings of the Board of Journals and Board of Magazines are held at ICC and at GLOBECOM. Other meetings may be called as deemed necessary by the Director of Journals.

  • As terms in-office for EICs draw to a close, the Director of Journals is responsible for appointing new EICs. The appointment is made by the Director of Journals after consultation with the Vice President of Publications.

  • The Director of Journals is expected to attend regularly scheduled meetings of the Communications Society Board of Governors and meetings of the OpCom to which he or she is invited. If the Director is unable to attend, the Director will consult with the Vice President of Publications to name an alternate on a per-meeting basis. Normally, the alternate will be a member of the Journals Board.

Suggestions can be 'generated' by anyone - from anywhere. To facilitate follow-through, the Director or a member of his/her Board will assume leadership for specific projects.  Whenever possible, target dates will be set, and the responsible individual will prepare periodic 'update reports' to the Vice President and Director (if appropriate).  As needed, progress will be reported at BoG or OpCom meetings.  When necessary, the Vice President shall ask the Director or members of his/her Board to provide informal input to the Management Retreat.

To successfully fulfill its goals, the Director and the Board must work with and keep headquarters staff informed of its activities.

The above items represent the ongoing responsibilities of the Journals Board defined on the date of this document. In addition to these on-going responsibilities, a number of additional activities are typically identified in the course of day-to-day operations of the Communications Society.  These often require the establishment of ad-hoc committees and/or working groups.  The Director of Journals will maintain a close working relationship with the Vice President of Publications to insure that all such requirements are properly handled as they are identified.